Tuesday, June 17, 2008

MTV Networks "Welcome Snoop"

The 'Welcome Snoop' campaign started with a brief to give MTV Networks Australia a local tone of voice. MTV is known for producing American TV shows; but MTV also produce a large percentage of Australian content. The challenge was to give MTV Networks Australia a personality relevant to its local audience and to create a promotion idea that would make the Australian audience active participants in the channel. The challenge was to do this in a way that was not traditional advertising. This was important given their young audience is largely cynical when it comes to brands 'understanding' them. In answer to the brief, the strategy was developed to put a controversial MTV icon into the Australian culture, and stir the pot. The icon was rapper, Snoop Dogg, and the creative vehicle would be his fight for Australian citizenship. This idea created a storm of controversy and PR for MTV Networks Australia. It also actively involved the audience in the MTV Australia brand and allowed them to have a voice in the fight for Snoop to gain Australian citizenship. The promotion brought to life the prospect of Snoop moving to Australia and motivated the audience to fight his cause. By embracing Snoop's case for citizenship (after being denied entry to Australia), MTV Networks created a promotion idea that spoke to their target audience in a way traditional advertising could never achieve. It bypassed the need to explain the benefits of subscribing to the channel by making the MTV Australia brand the voice of the target audience. Snoop Dogg is an MTV icon and creating a promotion around his quest for citizenship provided MTV Australia with a highly effective brand building idea. Snoop's massive popularity with the target ensured that the idea generated a movement around Snoop and MTV Australia. The Welcome Snoop campaign proved incredibly successful. Over 410,593 viewers were driven to the dedicated site at www.mtv.com.au/snoop alone - equating to 16.9% of the target market in Australia. It generated a total of 5,500,000 campaign interactions and created a hive of media attention around MTV Australia, activating a movement among the target audience to help MTV fight Snoop's cause. The campaign elevated MTV brand awareness to its highest point in history. The free PR generated alone was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and the idea attracted over 3X more MTV channel subscribers than the previous year. Gold Promo Lions & Silver Direct Lions Winner.